earthquakes and ectopics

posted by: emilie

i thought i had experienced enough action when i finally went to bed last night, but at 5 a.m. i woke up to the my room shaking. i wasn't quite sure what was going on....at first i thought we were being hit again, but then i realized it was an earthquake. a pretty decent one too. once again, i wasn't exactly sure what to do, so i just laid in my bunk until the shaking stopped. then i headed off to clinic. it was a busy morning, and i saw about 10 guys with various bones and joints that were hurt or injured. i was pretty much overwhelmed because i didn't really know what to do for these guys. this afternoon at about 4 i got word that they were flying in a soldier with severe abdominal pain that they thought was a ruptured appendix. when she made it in to the aid station on a stretcher i took one look at her and thought "that sure looks like a ruptured ectopic". low and behold her pregnancy test was positive. i did an quick ultrasound, and there was indeed tons of blood in her belly. we rushed her back to the OR, took out the ruptured tube. i didn't think i would have the chance to operate while deployed because i am deployed in a "general medical" slot, not a "surgery" slot. however, as the only gynecologist here, i was the resident expert on ruptured ectopics, and the general surgeons were happy to step aside and let me handle the case. in fact the general surgeon who was assisting me said "well, i guess i could've done it if i had to, but it wouldn't have been that pretty!". so, anyway, i was happy to be in the OR, actually doing some gyn surgery. but tomorrow it will be back to the old knee and shoulder pain :)